A Fighting Chance
by ReadingBee
Summary: "As long as she had a piece of Cyrus with her—and this child would be a beautiful legacy of their love—Alice had a reason to keep fighting." An alternate telling of the current storyline, in which a pregnant Alice returns to Wonderland to rescue Cyrus. This will be a multi-chapter fic that will be updated every Friday.
1. A Reason for Hope

**Disclaimer: Trying my hand at my first fanfiction. I have no rights to the storyline or characters of "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland."**

**Author's Note: Thank you for reading and sharing this journey with me!**

Nausea ripped through her stomach. Alice slowly drew a breath of her cell's cold, dank air through her nose—a feeble attempt to hold back the inevitable sick that had plagued her the last few weeks. She wouldn't be sick. She couldn't be sick. Alice refused to give these doctors another reason to judge her. For almost her entire life, Alice had been looked down on by those around her. Her father. His new family. They all knew her as the "crazy" girl. Poor, deluded Alice who made-up fantastic stories about falling down a rabbit hole into a world of hookah smoking caterpillars and giant, talking cats. Alice was used to their judgment however. The cold indifference and shame that had locked her away in this prison they called a hospital. But now, something was different. She was different and she wouldn't let her and Cyrus's unborn child live in the cold shadow of this world's judgment any longer.

It had been a total surprise, when two months into her interminable stay at Bedlam, a nurse had inadvertently informed her of her pregnancy. Alice had been "home" from Wonderland only one day before her father had carted her off to the psychiatric hospital. In her heart, Alice wondered if she could truly blame him this time. Returning home, she had stumbled blindly out of the portal that had blasted its way through her stepmother's perfect rose bushes. Not really sure how she had left Wonderland after her beloved's fatal fall into the Boiling Seas, Alice vaguely remembered the worried tones of the White Rabbit and maybe the firm, guiding arm of the Knave. Everything else was lost to Alice. She had returned to her realm in an almost catatonic state, mumbling an unheard call to her lost love and seeing an internally repeating image of Cyrus falling.

Alice's talk of magic and her faraway adventures had always been silenced by her father and Felicity, the woman he had married a few years after Alice's mother's death. Their steely refusal to believe her had been what had driven Alice back to Wonderland that fateful day she encountered Cyrus's bottle. That day marked the beginning of the most extraordinary, wonderful portion of her young life. When this time with Cyrus was stolen from her and Alice returned home tragically alone, she had come to see that no proof—tangible or otherwise—would ever alter the resolution of her father to live solely in this realm of coldhearted logic and propriety. Her stories, while humored and quietly suppressed during childhood, were no longer acceptable from a young woman of a respectable family. This was especially true when these stories involved talk of genie who was her one true love, cruelly ripped from her life by an evil queen.

These stories were how Alice had found herself locked in a Bedlam cell the day a large, unsympathetic nurse had let slip that she was carrying Cyrus's child. The nurse was in the midst of escorting Alice back to her "room" after yet another fruitless session with her doctor. Alice could not begin to imagine how many more days of these therapy sessions she would have to endure—silently sitting across a heavy table from doctors that constantly pushed her to admit that her stories of an enchanted land were just symptoms of a troubled brain, acting out the repressed childhood grief of her mother's passing. Alice was walking down the hall, sullenly staring into this bleak future when her life suddenly changed once more.

"And on top of these cockamamie tales, the girl is carrying some bastard babe!"

"Really?"

Alice jerked her head up from staring at the grimy floors at the same time as the large nurse's companion gasped in disapproval at Alice's condition.

"Mmm." The large nurse clucked her assent. "The doctor says she'll be about three months along now."

"Can you imagine?" answered the smaller, second nurse. "What will they do with the child?"

At this cavalier discussion of her child—a child Alice admittedly had suspected nothing about until this moment—a fire reignited deep within her. A hope, a passion that Alice had not felt since being with Cyrus in Wonderland, burned deep in her soul and she instinctively knew that maybe her future would not be as bleak as she had resigned herself to just a few minutes before. As long as she had a piece of Cyrus with her—and this child would be a beautiful legacy of their love—Alice had a reason to keep fighting.


	2. Be brave, be smart

**Author's Note: **I am incredibly humbled by the response to this story. I've been a reader of fanfiction for years, but never dared to write my own story. I had to change this though when I saw how few Cyrus/Alice stories there were in the "Wonderland" community. I love this couple and can't wait to see the resolution of their story. I hope you'll stick with my Alice and Cyrus. I have quite a few adventures of my own planned for them! Thank you again for reading! ~~_Reading Bee_

**Disclaimer: **I have no rights to the storyline or characters of "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland." This is written purely out of love for the amazing characters crafted by their rightful owners!

A fresh wave of nausea brought Alice unpleasantly back to the present. It had been a week now since she had learned of her pregnancy and she was still depressingly far from finding a way out of her "involuntary commitment." That's what the doctors had so bluntly called it the day her father deposited her at the gloomy doors of Bethlem Royal Hospital. Clutching her stomach in silent protest, Alice rolled over on her stripped, dirty mattress. She needed to think and the threat of being sick, combined with the scenes of anonymous misery passing constantly in the bleak hallway outside her cell, did her no good.

Facing the gray wall now, Alice at least had a blank canvas on which to replay the banal moments of her week. Nothing changed here. Every single miserable day was the same as the day that came before it. She was ripped from her sleep every morning by the sound of her metal food tray slamming against the stone floor. Before her startling news, Alice had not seen much point in eating the disgusting slop that passed for breakfast here. But now, acutely aware of the small life growing inside her, Alice dutifully picked at whatever remnants of digestible food appeared less repulsive.

After this "breakfast," Alice would be escorted to her "therapy" session with her useless doctors. They would spend at least two hours of every morning pushing Alice to admit her tales of Wonderland were lies. Alice in turn, spent these sessions in a near silent state. She inwardly marveled at how very stupid these "learned" men were. Her time in Wonderland—her time with Cyrus—was the truest thing she had ever known. And now with this baby, she ironically had the tangible proof of magic's existence that she had longed for before meeting Cyrus.

Seeing that Alice was proving to be another incurable case, the doctors would finally release Alice to the custody of her nurses. At which point, she would be brought back to her cell for a day of tortuous boredom. Alice hadn't the smallest idea how she would manage an escape. Every moment was regimented within these walls. Even when she was left alone in her cell, a constant parade of guards and hospital staff passed outside her locked door.

Groaning, Alice closed her eyes in frustration. She needed a plan. She needed that cleverness she had once boasted to Cyrus of possessing during some of their earliest moments together. With this thought of her beloved's name, a memory swam to the front of her mind. A memory of a time during which, Cyrus had taught her just how powerful her creativity could be.

"No!"

The sound of Alice's muffled cry and rustling of her blankets quickly jolted Cyrus from his sleep. Alert to the possibility of Alice being in danger, Cyrus blinked rapidly in an attempt to bring his surroundings to the forefront of his consciousness. He felt the coarse material of Alice's knapsack resting beneath his head and quickly scanned the dark corners of their room. Cyrus didn't sense another presence, but nonetheless remained as still as possible, so as not to alert an intruder to his current state of being awake. With people like Jafar chasing him across the edges of every realm, Cyrus could never be too careful—especially when it came to Alice.

Glancing at the blurred shapes surrounding him, Cyrus remembered exactly where he and Alice had stopped for the night. They had taken refuge in the empty arbor alcove of a friendly dryad. Ensuring the dwelling's owner was gone for the night, Cyrus had casted a powerful protective charm on the nook. Though Cyrus had to admit the spell would stand little chance against such a nefarious sorcerer as Jafar. But sitting up now and taking full stock of the room, Cyrus was assured that he and Alice remained its sole occupants. So what had disturbed his Alice from her sleep?

With this thought, a cry once again sounded from Alice, "No. Please…"

Her words held a stronger urgency than the ones that had first awakened Cyrus and he was dismayed to see them accompanied by Alice violently thrashing under her blankets. Quickly, Cyrus crawled across the earthen floor and gently scooped the sleeping Alice into his arms.

"Alice, my dear heart," he whispered into her ear. He held her to his chest. She still cried and writhed in his embrace, her brown curls shaking out around his arms. "Alice," he called this time more loudly, stroking her hair and placing soft kisses across her damp forehead.

"Cyrus?" Alice's frantic movements stopped as she slowly awoke to her love's calming attentions.

"Always, Alice. I am always here," he replied as he lovingly brushed her hair through his fingers, away from her face.

Alice leaned into his touch and Cyrus lowered his arms to her waist. Resting her head sideways across his chest, Alice slowly made sense of the night's events. "I had a dream—a nightmare really—from when I was girl."

Cyrus listened and waited patiently for Alice to gather her thoughts. She had shared many things about her childhood—moments from Wonderland and England both—and while she had experienced some terrible, heartbreaking things, she had not yet related a moment that could explain such terror. Encouraging her to continue, Cyrus dropped a kiss to the crown of her head and rubbed a small circle on her lower back.

"There are these creatures here. Awful monsters. Huge and hairy. Gnashing teeth. Glowing yellow eyes. Have you seen them?" Alice raised her head to look into Cyrus's eyes and his heart broke to see hers' wet with tears.

He nodded and quietly answered, "They sound like bandersnatches, Alice."

"Bandersnatches," she whispered the name to herself, as if knowing what to call them confirmed her nightmares.

"But how should you come to know them, my love? Surely, bandersnatches have few interactions with innocent little girls. They are weapons mostly- vicious beasts that do a villain's bidding."

Alice nodded and scooted minutely away from Cyrus's embrace. She reached across the newly created space between them to grab his hands. Looking into his concerned eyes, Alice answered his question, "When I was first here, I told you I ran into a spot of trouble with the Red Queen?"

Cyrus squeezed her hands in agreement. "The Knave and his heart?" The depths of Alice's bravery and loyalty had astounded him upon first hearing her relate the story of how she had risked life and limb to give the Knave a second chance. Now that he knew her, he was no longer surprised by the weight of Alice's heart and compassion for the downtrodden. For hadn't she given him a second chance by loving him? Wasn't she risking everything to give him the life he had never imagined to be possible? Alice's response drew Cyrus out of his brooding thankfulness.

"Yes," she answered. "After I set the Knave free and escaped into the forest myself, I found myself cornered by the…" Alice swallowed the name and Cyrus saw a fresh wave of tears crumple Alice's beautiful face.

He once more took Alice into his arms. Sliding her slight frame onto his lap, Cyrus gently rocked Alice back and forth while whispering quiet words of devotion into her ear. When he could no longer feel the sorrow of her tears shaking her body, Cyrus set out to deliver Alice from her childhood terror once and for all. Pulling Alice's face gently upwards, Cyrus began, "You have nothing to fear with the Bandersnatches, love. They don't truly think for themselves, you see. Bandersnatches are powerful, yes. They will hunt a person to ends of this realm—if you give them the chance. But at their basest, they are dumb, blind, and easily fooled. That is what happens when a creature ceases to think for itself and exists solely to fulfill the evil whims of another. Alice, you are the most brilliant, most clever woman I have ever met and had the blessing to love. The bandersnatches are nothing compared to your braveness."

Cyrus gently placed his warm hand over her heart and lowered his head to kiss her. He felt Alice finally let go with the joining of their lips, her arms circling around his neck, her fingers running though his dark curls. Cyrus finally broke the kiss and once more looking into her eyes said, "Just be your wonderful, amazing, self, Alice. Be smart. Be bold. Rely on your heart and trust in our love and know that nothing will harm you, ever again."

Hand placed protectively over her stomach, Alice opened her eyes as the last of Cyrus's loving admonition echoed in her head. Alice sat upright on her mattress, silently berating herself. She had done Cyrus and their baby a great injustice. Ever since Cyrus was taken from her by the Red Queen, she had given up- on life, on who she was. If their positions were reversed, and god knows Alice had prayed for that possibility many times before, she knew she couldn't bear the idea of Cyrus giving up—retuning to the prison of his bottle and that empty life spent serving the greedy caprices of others. And now Alice had someone else to think of besides herself and Cyrus. Their baby needed her to go on. To believe in its father's words—that she was smart enough, bold enough to overcome any obstacle.

Her remembrance of Cyrus's words couldn't have come at a better time. For it was at this very moment that Alice looked up from her hands, hovering over her stomach's small bump, to see the Knave—the very person on whose story she had just been reminiscing —impossibly standing outside of her cell door.


	3. Returns and Revelations

**Author's Note: **Hello again! Thank you for the kind reviews and story follows! I still can't believe people are reading this story! To answer some of the questions that popped up in the reviews (without giving too much away), my story will mirror the events of the show as much as possible. Some aspects may change to suit my characterizations of Cyrus and Alice (as well as the fact that Alice's pregnancy necessarily changes many components). However, the major details of the show stay the same in my story. Cyrus is still alive and a prisoner of Jafar, etc. I hope you all enjoy this new installment. Thanks again for the support!

**Disclaimer: **I still have no rights to either the plot or characters of "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland."

_aaa_

"Will?" Alice was completely dumbfounded by the presence of her long absent friend. It was impossible. She hadn't seen Will since that awful day and _so much _had happened since then. Yet, here he was standing outside her cell door, his hands coolly clutched around its iron bars.

"Hello, love. Fancy staging a jailbreak? Although, these are some lovely accommodations you have here. I could understand why you might want to stick around…" Will ended his typically cocky speech by nudging her afternoon lunch tray through the bars with the tip of his black boot.

"But, what are you doing here? How did you find me?" Alice's head ran in endless circles of questions, yet a tiny glimmer of hope flared in the back of her mind. Maybe, just maybe Will was her ticket out of this hellish prison. Maybe he could help her and her baby, just as she had helped him so many years before.

"Believe it or not Alice, this wasn't my idea. I was snug as a bug, ready to tuck into a nice cup of coffee when this mangy fellow showed up." With these words, Will took a small step to the left and revealed the diminutive presence of the White Rabbit.

"Rabbit!" Upon seeing another of her old friends, Alice jumped up off her mattress. Her earlier nausea had suddenly disappeared, overridden no doubt, by this sudden turn of events. There was truly only so much her body could process at once.

At Alice's words, the Rabbit inclined his head towards her then quickly removed his pocket watch. "We must be leaving Alice. Time waits for no man—ahem—or woman in this case."

"Where are we going?" Alice felt her guard rise up and that tiny burst of hope began to flicker. This was all too easy. It couldn't be real. Friends you haven't seen in months, don't suddenly turn up—in a different realm, in "Bedlam" of all places—to rescue you the very moment you decide to hatch an escape plan. The more likely scenario was that she had actually gone crazy locked inside these walls. Will and the Rabbit were just figments of her desperation.

"Where are we going? What a ridiculous question, Alice! Why to Wonderland of course. To rescue Cyrus."

All her breath was knocked out of Alice at the mention of Cyrus's name. No, not just his name, but had the Rabbit truly just said "rescue?" _Rescue_—that meant Cyrus was alive and Alice knew that wasn't true. She saw him fall. She felt her heart stop with the sight of her love plummeting towards those infernal Boiling Seas. A sharp prick of anger brought Alice out of her thoughts. Both Will and the Rabbit were staring at her expectantly. They were just gawking at her outside her cell bars like some pitiful animal in a zoo.

"How dare you!" whispered Alice in a cold fury. She looked both her friends in the eye, hoping to convey the depths of hurt she felt in this moment.

"Alice…" began Will, slowly raising one hand in protest, as if he were all too familiar with the reaction they had just provoked.

"No," stated Alice shortly. "Don't you even start. Who do you think you two are, coming here—to this awful place—and daring to talk about rescuing Cyrus? He is gone. I saw the Red Queen and her guards kill him—take him from me—with my own eyes. And now here you are, months later, telling me I have to return to Wonderland to rescue him? Why? Why would you do this? Do you think this is funny? Is this some twisted Wonderland riddle I once again will never understand?

"Alice," started Will in a tone meant to calm her. He glanced up and down the hallway nervously.

Alice briefly understood that she had perhaps been too adamant in her sentiments, but that didn't remove their anger.

"We aren't lying to you, love."

"Yes," added the Rabbit hastily as he fidgeted with his glasses. "Cyrus is alive, but he faces a danger that only you can rescue him from. Here, perhaps this will convince you."

With these words, Alice saw the Rabbit remove a heavy pendant from his pocket. Her heart stopped as the Rabbit swung the pendant around to face her and Alice saw the warm, glowing red of her and Cyrus's intertwined hearts.

"Cyrus." Alice whispered. Seeing the pendant, Alice felt her mind go numb. The edges of her vision blurred and the constant din of the asylum faded to nothingness. Cyrus, his name echoed slowly in her head. She needed to sit down. Groping blindly behind her, Alice slowly backed against the wall. Was it possible? After all this time, was he alive? Alone and in danger? With this sharp blow of reality, Alice's mind suddenly returned to her cell. The Knave and Rabbit were both looking at her—heads cocked to the side, though the Rabbit was agitatedly glancing about the hallway as if expecting someone to pop up any moment.

"All right, Alice?" questioned Will. "Listen, I know this is a bit of a shock…"

Alice didn't let him finish. "Where is he?" she demanded as she strode back to the cell doors.

Will looked at Alice and answered, "To be honest, we're not entirely sure on that one. But," Will raised a finger at Alice's incredulous look, "the Rabbit here saw him at the Mad Hatter's not a few days back."

"That makes no sense at all," cried Alice. "If he were alive, Cyrus would be looking for me, not drinking tea with some crackpot haberdasher!"

"I didn't say he was there of his own volition, Alice" murmured the Rabbit darkly.

Alice turned away at this point. In a gesture becoming increasingly familiar, her hand found her stomach and began gently rubbing the slight bump. If Cyrus were truly alive and in need of her help, where would he be? Alice closed her eyes and a vision of Cyrus during the first night they met surfaced: "_There is a man named Jafar_…" Alice's eyes flashed open. She had a sinking feeling that her questions were answered.

"Well, how are we getting to Wonderland?"

"Aha!" cried the Rabbit. "That is where I come in of course. Once I start digging, a portal back to Wonderland will open—just as it did when you were a child. Though, much has changed since then."

Alice couldn't help but smile at that. He didn't know the half of it.

"Are you sure you're ready Alice?" asked Will, a genuine note of concern in his voice. "Once he starts digging that thing, we have to move fast. I don't know if you've noticed, but the people here aren't exactly friendly. They may not take kindly to you're leaving so suddenly."

Alice let slip another smile. This was the chance she had dreamt for their child—a chance turned into a dream come true with the news that Cyrus was alive. "I'm sure," she answered resolutely. "I will find him and we will be together again. Rabbit?" Alice looked commandingly at their furry companion, who quickly began tracing a hole on the ground.

As promised, the magic was quick. The cell bars vanished into a loud swirl of color and sound. Nodding at her friends, Alice jumped feet first into the portal, not even deigning to take a second glance at her "home" of the last few months. Before she could even open her eyes, Alice felt her bottom land firmly on soft grass. Glancing around, she let out a quick sigh of relief as she saw the Rabbit and Will land in the same emerald green field. As portals went, that was the gentlest landing Alice had experienced yet and she was grateful for their baby's sake. Looking down at her stomach, Alice whispered, "I do think our luck may be turning around, little one."

_ccc_

Many miles away from Alice's landing, Cyrus awoke from a troubled sleep with a sudden jolt on the bottom of his cage's cold floor. He felt his heart twist warmly in a way it hadn't for some time now. Before he could dare whisper the name of his heart though, he was overcome with a sudden, startling vision…

_He felt the welcoming heat of Agrabah's desert sands once more. Home. No, he thought. Not truly home anymore. Home could only be where Alice was. At this thought, as if on cue, Cyrus heard the laughing tones of his love singing softly. Opening his eyes, he found himself in a modest desert home. While this room looked comfortable, decorated with cozy lounges and paintings of faraway cities, his Alice was nowhere to be seen. He could still hear her though. Now she was just laughing and Cyrus's heart ached to hear that beautiful sound. It had been so long. Cautiously he called out, "Alice?"_

"_In here!" she responded and Cyrus followed her sweet voice to an adjoining room. This one was obviously a bedroom. As Cyrus walked in, he saw a large bed in the center of the room, piled high with pillows of a dizzying array of colors…and a small white, standing bassinet off to its side. His Alice stood by this basket, cooing to a purple silk bundle cradled in her arms._

"_Ali…"_

But before he could finish her name, a commotion sounding from the guards ripped him out of this vision. Cyrus found himself far from Agrabah and once more in his silver prison. His heart was still beating out the knowledge of Alice's return, as well as the miracle of what the vision had revealed. However, before he could truly process this incredible news, Cyrus saw what the guard's sudden noise had been about. Jafar, cloaked in an angry red and black, was striding down the stone walkway leading to his cage.

Slamming his golden staff on the ground, Jafar looked coldly into Cyrus's brown eyes. "It seems your Alice has returned to Wonderland."


	4. A Birthday

**Author's Note: Hello all! I'm so pleased people continue to enjoy this story. Thanks to all those who've reviewed and reached out to share your thoughts! I hope you like the latest installment. I know my chapters are a bit small and quiet compared to what occurs on the show, but I hope my story fills the void of those lovely moments we miss between Alice/Cyrus in all the drama of the real storytelling we see on television! **

**Disclaimer: I still have no rights to the storyline or characters of "Once Upon a Time In Wonderland."**

_ccc_

Cyrus rose from the floor of his cage to meet Jafar's words. He worked quickly to get his thoughts in order. He had to protect Alice and their…their _child_. Cyrus felt his eyes close for the briefest of seconds. Their child. This truth revealed to him in the vision a moment ago was so new, so incredible. But, he couldn't allow himself the luxury of processing his changed reality right now. Cyrus would trade everything to protect Alice and he had to throw Jafar off her path. Once he did that, then maybe he would allow himself a moment to understand just how much his and Alice's world had changed.

Pressing himself as close to the cage's silver bars as he dared, Cyrus answered Jafar's earlier statement. "I'm not quite sure I understand you, Jafar." Cyrus hoped he had feigned the right amount of polite confusion in order to make his words believable. "Alice can't possible be in Wonderland because we both know you had the Red Queen—or should I more properly say, her enforcers—remove Alice from this realm quite some time ago."

Jafar sighed at Cyrus's words. Straightening the cuff of his black tunic, he didn't even deign to look up at his captive as he replied, "Really, genie. I thought we were on much better terms than this. There is no need to lie to me. You see I have—what did you call them, enforcers?—of my own and these convenient _little _informants happen to be with Alice right as we speak."

Cyrus froze at these words. One of his worst fears had come true. The one thing he had always worked to shield Alice from was now a reality: Jafar had a way to hurt her and if Jafar was to believed, the situation was made worse by the fact that she had been betrayed by someone she trusted.

Seeing that there was no use in denying Jafar's words any longer, Cyrus met them in a defiant effort to save Alice in whatever way possible. He feared—really knew—he couldn't do much from this position, but he had to try. That's what Alice would do and thus what she deserved from him. "You have no use of her, Jafar. If you wish to hurt me, you have already done so by keeping us apart. Leave her alone. Your castle is well hidden and impossible for her to find. Alice is no danger to you or your plans."

Jafar looked at Cyrus, a chillingly cold smile playing across his lips. "Ah, and here is something we agree upon. You're right, genie. Alice is hardly a danger to me. She's not even a disruption. For you see, she's a tool in my plan. Brave little Alice on her quest to rescue her one true love," here Jafar adopted a mocking tone that filled Cyrus with an ager so deep he felt as if he could break through his cage, "will lead me right where I need to be. She'll find your bottle and no doubt plan to make three sickeningly innocent wishes to bring you back to her again. What she doesn't know is that thanks to her 'friend,' I'll be there first and she'll give me that bottle. Then we might take a nice little trip back here, where I'll torture those three wishes from her, right in front of your very eyes. I figure the least I can do is let you see your Alice one last time before I take your magic and you spend the rest of eternity locked away in your cozy bottle."

With this threat, Jafar abruptly spun away from Cyrus and strode purposefully back down the stone walkway. Cyrus was hardly a man who found himself shaken after a confrontation, but with this threat to Alice, coupled with the news he had received in his vision, Cyrus felt his last remaining hope begin to drift away. Whatever his plan entailed, Jafar was deadly serious. He would find Alice and hurt her in unimaginable ways to make her use those wishes. Pressing his hands over his eyes, Cyrus desperately sought a way in which he could save Alice and their child from this horror. He needed to think of something because, as he had told Alice on that night that he now knew to be the fateful moment of their child's conception, he would never allow her to be alone in this word again.

_aaa_

"Do you want to know a secret?" Alice grinned mischievously at Cyrus, her eyes sparkling over the remains of her dinner plate. They had stopped at a small inn for the night. The inn was tucked in a small cluster of woods that were not too far from the Dandelion Shrub under which, the two had buried Cyrus's bottle once and for all that afternoon.

Cyrus felt his heart twist warmly in response to Alice's increasingly familiar smile. They had been traveling across Wonderland for almost a month now and he still couldn't believe that he had received such an amazing gift. For someone like Alice-brave, beautiful, kindhearted Alice—to love him, as he truly loved her, was an unimaginable freedom. For not only had Alice freed him from the lonely life of his bottle, but loving her had granted him the freedom to become the man we was meant to be.

Cyrus extended his hand across the worn, oaken table and Alice immediately dropped her fork to embrace it. He drew a brief circle across the top of her hand, before flipping it to examine her palm lines. "I want to know all your secrets Alice. But I should warn you, part of a genie's magic involves the ability to see visions of the past and the future. So, be careful what you choose to reveal." With this, Cyrus sent a small wink at Alice before kissing her palm lightly.

Alice closed her eyes at the delicious shiver his kiss sent through her before answering, "I will never hide anything from you, Cyrus. My past and _our _future are open—though there are some rather embarrassing moments from my childhood involving a misguided attempt at dance lessons that I'd rather your visions steered clear of."

Cyrus laughed softly while continuing to caress her hand. "I have no doubt that you are a beautiful dancer my love and look forward to the opportunity to see you in action. But surely, the secret you spoke of earlier does not involve your dance lessons. You looked much too mischievous for such a tame tale."

"Oh, no. You're right. My secret wasn't that. Though now I fear it will disappoint whatever you've imagined." Alice smiled at him before continuing, "I was only going to say, that I've just remembered… if Wonderland calendars hold true to the ones in my realm, today is my birthday."

"Your birthday?" Cyrus smoothly removed himself from his seat across from Alice and moved to take the spot next to her on their table's long bench. Facing Alice he responded, "My love, that is quite a secret. You've said nothing of this all day. Alice, this is something special. We should celebrate your beautiful life." He softly grazed his hand across Alice's cheek before leaning in to kiss her. Cyrus felt Alice move a fraction closer to him, so that they ended the kiss with Alice's slight frame subtly tucked between his knees.

Resting her forehead on his and eyes slowly opening to the world, Alice smiled a bit cheekily as she replied, "I think that was quite a nice celebration right there. At any rate," Alice gently moved her head away from Cyrus's and grabbed both his hands between hers, "I don't really celebrate my birthdays. We never have. I just saw the date when we paid the innkeeper for the room tonight and remembered."

Cyrus threaded his fingers through hers and carefully looked into her eyes. There was obviously a history behind these solemn birthday celebrations and Alice had told him enough about her lonely childhood to guess it had something to do with her ever distant father. While Cyrus could not fault the man for grieving profoundly over his wife's death (after all, where would he be if Alice was taken from him—he couldn't begin to comprehend this nightmare), Cyrus did blame him for the pain he had caused his daughter. Alice had grown-up feeling unwanted and responsible for her mother's death and her father's sadness. He imagined a little girl whose birthdays went unacknowledged year after year, and he vowed to spend his life making up for those decades of pain.

"Alice, every day I spend with you has been a treasure. You are an extraordinary woman who deserves nothing but happiness from this life. I love you more than I can truly express, my darling Alice and I will spend this birthday and every birthday after proving just how wonderful a person you are to me and everyone who has the great luck to know you." Cyrus bent down to meet Alice's lips again, this time wrapping his arms around her back. He wanted this kiss to demonstrate the feeling behind his words. He imagined this embrace showering Alice in the love and devotion she should have experienced her whole life.

_ccc_

Cyrus removed his hands from his face as the last beautiful remnants of that night's memories played threw his mind. He and Alice had planned to spend the night at that inn on the edge of the forest. Cyrus had not planned for their relationship to progress to the point it did, however. Respect for Alice was always one of his guiding forces. Though she had seen so much and traveled so far, there were necessarily some matters of which a young woman from Victorian England remained ignorant, compared to a magical genie who had lived many lifetimes. Yet returning to their room after that dinner, had marked a turning point in their relationship.

Though he had known it long before, that dinner had cemented the fact that he and Alice would never be apart. Cyrus loved her more than he had thought possible to love another in this life. He knew when she had related the sad history of her childhood birthdays, that he would devote the rest of his existence to making her happy and protecting her from any further harm. And with many reassurances supplied by Alice, they had consummated that promise in a union of their love, that he now knew had led to the wonderful creation of their child.

Now, Cyrus knew, was the moment his promise to Alice was to be tested. When he was first captured by Jafar and Alice was returned to her realm, Cyrus had resigned himself to their separation. At least he knew she would be safe and he hoped the strength of their love would sustain her though a life on her own. But Alice's return to Wonderland had changed everything once more. He had to find a way to be with Alice and their child—he had to protect his family from the sure harm Jafar was sending their way. A plan already forming in his head, Cyrus stood to address the slovenly guard who was gorging himself on a turkey leg on the walkway beneath him.

"Excuse me sir. But could you spare just a morsel…"


End file.
